1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to specialty packaging, and more particularly to a pallet display capable of assembly around a pallet stack, and disassembly into a more compact arrangement.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pallets and similar flat standardized transport structures are known in the art and are used for supporting and transporting collections of small to medium-sized mercantile items. Conventional stocking of store shelves requires unpacking items from pallets, refilling the store shelves with new items and removing the pallets. This process is time consuming and inefficient, resulting in added costs which are passed on to consumers. To avoid these costs, warehouse stores and similar bulk item merchants allow customers to select and procure items directly from the pallets they arrive on, avoiding stocking costs and allowing the stores to pass on the savings to the customers. Warehouse stores account for an increasing share of retail sales as a consequence.
While more efficient and cost-saving from a transport, delivery and stocking perspective, offering items directly on pallets has certain disadvantages in terms of marketing and promotion. First, the pallets themselves are frequently unsightly and the items obscured by packaging inserts or, if small, contained in poorly marked boxes on the pallet. Second, pallets are frequently moved or store layouts changed, making it difficult to find a particular item in the warehouse on a return visit. Additionally, when multiple pallets are stacked atop one another to raise items to an easily accessible height, the items are easier to reach but at the aesthetic cost of several unsightly pallets visible to the customer. To overcome these problems various displays to promote items on pallets have been developed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,152,305 teaches a pallet display assembly wherein items are packaged in structurally resilient display packs stacked vertically in open boxes from which they may be removed. While such an assembly presents the items upright and renders them easily retrievable, the labels are often too small to be seen from a distance and the assembly works only with items suitable for sturdy display packaging such as vacuum-molded plastic packaging.
To avoid those limitations and provide a larger display area, visible from a distance, various apparatus having large side panels have been developed. The side panels can obscure the pallets on which the items are placed and provide a large surface area to display a variety of marketing indicia.
One such panel system is embodied in U.S. Pat. No. 7,861,865 to Green. Green teaches a packaging assembly including four side panels for covering stacked pallets. The side panels each include a mounting flap and a main flap separated by a fold line. The mounting flap is affixed to a pallet using a stapler or similar method such that the fold line matches the edge of the pallet. Items are installed on the pallet and the main panels fold up adjacent the items prior to use, with a lid necessary to secure them in an upright configuration. To form the display, the mounting flaps are folded down and connected together by affixing a side tab on one flap to an adjacent mounting flap with tape or glue.
Green has several disadvantages. Primarily, it requires affixing the mounting flaps to the pallet. This requires special tools, such as an industrial stapler or hammer in the case of conventional pallets, and other, unspecified fixation methods in the case of resin or metal pallets. Additionally, glue or tape is needed to adhere the side tab of one panel to another panel, thus making break down, removal and recycling the display difficult. Green is also not self-aligning, requiring users to ensure the mounting flaps are affixed to the pallet in just the right position to align the side tabs and panels. If not properly aligned, removing, realigning and reinstalling the mounting panels causes unsightly damage to the display.
Accordingly there is need for an improved panel-type pallet display assembly for use with mercantile items sold directly from pallets that is easy to assemble and disassemble and that overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages inherent in the prior art.